


Snow Day

by okayseesee



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pepperony - Freeform, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Iron Man 3, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Winter, minor mentions of ptsd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 02:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5112734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayseesee/pseuds/okayseesee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cold mornings lead to wandering thoughts, and Tony has always hated the cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Day

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic, so a bit nervous about chucking it out into the world. Let me know what you think!  
> There is a VERY minor mention of flashbacks and PTSD in this fic, so if you are extremely sensitive to things of those nature, be warned. You can miss it by skipping the first paragraph and then continuing on with the fic.  
> Beta'd by the ever lovely Kika988 who helped not only fix some dumb grammar mistakes, but also convinced me to post this.

                It was cold, that was the first thing he’d realized upon waking up. It was the first time he had been back in New York since the battle. The city was full of echoes of memories and flashes of panic that left him shaking for hours some nights, but he was managing. He had to verify the building plans for the new tower, see the location and approve preliminary construction. It couldn’t be done online, so he’d flown out to the site to inspect it -- in the dead of winter, of-fucking-course.

                Tony rolled over, trying to burrow further into the covers. His arm reached out, intending to wrap around Pepper and drag her closer, hide from the cold in her warmth and ignore the world for a little bit longer. All he was met with was empty blankets and more cold air. He groaned and buried his face into his pillow. Right, she had stayed back in sunny, warm California for meetings. He never thought he could be envious of all the meetings Pepper had to go to as CEO, but as he sat up in the bed and was assaulted by the frigid air of the room, he found his thoughts straying in that direction. He had the heat on last night, had gone to bed nice and toasty. Why did he feel so damn cold now?

                He grunted as he rolled out of bed, covers draped around his body, in an attempt to protect his skin from even more cold. Tony shuffled across the room over the plush carpet, leaning against the wall as he squinted at the curtains. He pulled them open, flinching a bit as the light bombarded his senses. Once his eyes adjusted he looked out the window and, oh, that explained the cold. Snow was falling rapidly down to the city beneath, ice frosting over the glass he was peering through. Had the forecast called for snow? Admittedly, he hadn’t been looking at it at all. He had meant to check the forecast so that he could pack it properly, but then Pepper had come home in a tight black skirt that hugged her so well, looking for stress relief from a long day and, well, weather had been the furthest thing from his mind. He had his priorities.

                A smile spread across his lips at the memory. That ‘stress relief’ had lasted all night and well into the morning, causing her to be late for work, and him to have to rush packing or else miss his flight – leading to his lack of a jacket in freezing New York City weather. He shivered and wrapped the blankets more securely around himself, moving to the thermostat on the other side of the room to turn the heat further up. Why wasn’t there a fireplace in his room? Damn, he’d have to research hotels with fireplaces in them if these visits to verify plans became a regular thing.

                His thoughts drifted to Pepper once more. They often did in these quiet moments, but they had been completely stuck on her for the entire trip so far. This was the first time they had been apart since Christmas, since he had blown up his suits, taken the Extremis from her and gotten the reactor removed, and he missed her.

                “God, pathetic,” he grumbled, voice rough from disuse. He fell onto the couch in the room and curled up on himself. He wanted to call her, hear her voice, see how she was doing but god, it was early over there and she had a meeting that morning, he knew.  He had her schedule memorized for the entire trip, had wanted to make sure of when he could call her.

                Tony sighed, shifting onto his side and wrapping himself completely in the blankets, not letting any of the cold air in. He didn’t want to sit up and continue thinking about her, about missing her. Maybe he could just manage to doze for a little bit longer, kill a few hours of the day. He didn’t have anything planned, didn’t know why he was staying an extra two days, honestly. He just wanted to be back home, in the heat, waking up to her body protectively wrapped around his own, feeling warm and safe. He closed his eyes and drew the blankets up to his chin, curling up.

                A knock on his room door woke him about ten minutes later, just as he was starting to seriously drift off for his mid-morning nap. He groaned as he hauled himself up into a sitting position on the couch, rubbing his eyes. If it was the hotel manager knocking on his door, he was going to blow a gasket. He hated it when the hotels came to bother him in the mornings, trying to get on his good side. Checking in was one thing, but honestly, it was nine in the morning, and usually he wanted to sleep in. Checking in everyday was overkill, and they had just bugged him about his stay the night before. He didn’t want to deal with it, not to mention that the man’s monotone voice practically put him to sleep the day before as he droned on and on about the amenities the hotel had to offer him.

                He pushed himself up off the couch and dragged his way over to the door, pulling it open. He was partway through his routine of ‘Yes, the room is fine and I’m having a good stay, I’d really like to continue sleeping though so if you’d excuse me,’ when his brain stalled his speech, registering three things, one after another.

                First, it was the gloved hands. They were slightly damp, a few snow flurries clinging to the leather, telling him that the person had been outside _very_ recently. Then it was his jacket clutched in those gloved hands, the one that he had just been mourning the lack of a few minutes before. Finally, it was the chilled, freckled cheeks framed by orange hair, pale skin turned pink from the wind and frost outside. He blinked dumbly.

                “You… you forgot your jacket.”

                She spoke and, oh, god, he couldn’t believe it. He grabbed her and tugged her into the room, the door slamming shut with a resounding thud as he pushed her back against it. His lips landed against hers in a rough kiss as her hand slid up his back and tangled into his hair.

                The jacket fell to the floor. A smile spread across her lips against his, and the furthest thought from either of their minds was the cold. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
